New Moon College Style

Tessa and I weren't the only family members crazy enough to go the midnight premiere of New Moon!

Cali and her roommates waited in line OUTSIDE for two hours - in cold Utah!!

But when you are sporting a stylish Snuggie you don't need to worry about the cold!!

Those Snuggie's sure come in handy!  I bet Brittany wished she had one too!

I guess all the standing in line paid off when they scored great seats in the theater!

Fortunately for Cali she doesn't have classes on Friday so she could sleep in!

New Moon

The first midnight premiere of a movie I ever attended was Twilight.  It was a fun and crazy experience!

After it was over though I added it to my list of "Things I'm glad I did once but don't need to do again."

Well  - I lied.  I did it again.

Last night Tessa, Hannah, Molly and Olivia and I attended the Premiere - Midnight showing of New Moon, the sequel to Twilgiht.

Never say never!

The girls all headed over about 9:30 and I hung at home until about 11:00 when Jim dropped me off.

We had a great time and enjoyed New Moon more than Twilight.

We are thinking we may all be joining Team Jacob!!

Now to catch up on my sleep!!

Jim's New Boss

Wanted to introduce you to Jim's new boss today.

Isn't he cute?

Yes - Jim is working for the Duck.

We are excited that he has a job!  He started last week and has been busy with training and learning everything he needs to know.

He has gotten off to a strong start and has his first sales under his belt which is a good thing since he is TOTALcommission.  Yes that means no base salary - nothing - no sales equals no money!

We have done that before and we can do it again.  The job also comes with no benefits which is something new for us.  We have never had a job before with no benefits.

Fortunately we can stay on our Cobra until next June so I am sure we will figure something out by then.

He will still have a home office but spends a lot of time at the main office and out talking with businesses so I must admit I am enjoying my quiet house again!!

So if you know of someone or a business/company that might be interested in supplmental insurance give Jim a call - he'd love to talk to them!

Book Club

My book club met today and discussed our most recent read - Sarah's Key.

I loved the book.  I read the whole thing this weekend while we were at the beach.  I had a hard time putting it down.

The book is tragic and sad but well written.  There are two story lines occuring at once.  One that begins in
1942 in Paris when all the Jews in the city are rounded up and sent to live in horrible conditions in the Velodrome d'Hiver.  The children are seperated from the parents and all eventually end up in Auschwitz except for the very few who escape.  The other story line begins in Paris in current day with an American living in Paris and married to a French man who is asked to write a story on the anniversary of this horrible event in Paris.  Julia becomes obsessed with something she discovers and in the end the two stories come together. . 

It is a heart wrenching story of the impact the events of 1942 had on so many lives for so many generations and how we must never forget the horrors that happened during that time. 

















I have always been fascinated with the time period around WWI and the Holocaust.  Some of my favorite books I have read over and over again are Diary of Anne Frank and The Hiding Place.

This last year I also read a few other books that deal with this same time period.  The Zoo Keeper's Wife is about what happened in Poland during this time and then the Book Thief is another intriguing book told from the perspective of Death.  I highly recommend both.  The Zoo Keeper's Wife reads a little bit more like a history book than a novel but I enjoyed it a lot.

Our next book club pick is The Hunger Games. 
Would love to hear any book recommendations you might have for me!

An Invitation

When we were at the beach this last weekend I found this darling card....

I fell in love with it and several others ones they had in the store.

I decided that this card should become the theme for the Wilkes Family Manzanita Beach Reunion 2010.

Every party needs a theme doesn't it?

I thought Grandma Wilkes would approve....

Memories to Last a Lifetime.

Our family has certainly created memories to last a lifetime at Manzanita Beach!

So Wilkes family - this is your official invitation to

Manzanita Beach - Memories to Last a Lifetime 2010

For those of you who don't know the official dates are:

 July 9 - 14th

We hope to see you there!

A Study in Driftwood

On our Saturday morning walk along the Manzanita Beach Jim and I were amazed by the amount of large pieces of driftwood that had washed up.  Not only was there a lot but they were very far up - almost to the sand dune.  They must have had some pretty big waves to get those where they landed!!

I had fun taking pictures of it while trying to catch the morning light and Jim had fun playing on it!!

There is some good bonfire wood to be had!!

Back from the Beach

The three of us spent a very relaxing weekend at the beach!

We got a little later start than we had hoped Friday evening.  With a road closure thanks to an accident and having to be re routed (thank goodness for our GPS) and then some snow going over the top of the pass we didn't arrive until about 8:00 p.m.   We had picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way out of town and cooked it when we arrived - we were hungry.

Saturday was a nice day at the coast - no rain or wind!  Jim and I got up and went for a lovely walk on the beach.  Tessa slept as walking in the sand with her lovely boot would be difficult!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the house.  I worked on a qulit top and almost finished it!

Tessa spent a lot of time here - working  on homework and taking a nap now and then!

Jim did some work on his computer.  We took a trip into town and browsed a few of our favorite stores, including the bookstore and ate a late lunch at one of the Mexican restaurants in town.  We just snacked for dinner.

That evening we watched Guys and Dolls - the musical they are doing this Spring at the high school and played our favorite new card game..

I was able to start and finish the book we are reviewing at book club this week - I loved it!!

All in and all it was a productive yet peaceful, relaxing weekend.  Nice to escape for a couple of days!